Test–retest reliability of physical fitness tests among young athletes: The FITescola® battery

Abstract

Monitoring physical fitness in young athletes is essential to improve physical performance, identify talents and develop injury prevention programs. The aim of this investigation was to analyse the reliability of the physical fitness tests from the FITescola^® battery in young athletes with different sports backgrounds and competition levels. Participants comprised of 138 young athletes (boys n = 92) aged 9 and 18 years old. Eight physical fitness tests assessing six components of physical fitness were performed: cardiorespiratory fitness (PACER); upper body muscular fitness (push‐up); flexibility (sit and reach); lower‐body muscular fitness (horizontal and vertical jump); agility (4 × 10 shuttle run); and speed (sprint at 20 m and 40 m). Each test was performed twice, with a one‐week interval (7 days) between duplicate tests. No differences between duplicate tests were found (p > .05), except for the speed at 20 m in boys (p < .001) and speed at 40 m in girls (p = .006). The battery of tests had good or excellent reliability and concordance of the ICC between the two trials (ICC ≥ 0.75) with exception for the 20 m speed run in girls that presented moderate reliability (ICC = 0.57). The Bland–Altman plots showed high reliability for all the fitness tests for both sexes. Hence, The FITescola^® battery may be a novel tool to assess the physical fitness of large groups of young athletes from different sports backgrounds.